Touch sensing system and display apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure is related to a touch sensing system and a display apparatus decreasing a sensing time and enabling an effective touch sensing, although a number of sensing electrodes increases according to an increase of an area of a touch panel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from and the benefit under 35 U.S.C.5119(a) of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0133404, filed on Nov.5, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes asif fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a touch sensing system and a displayapparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the development of information society, various types ofrequirements for a display apparatus for displaying an image areincreasing, and recently, various display apparatuses, such as a LiquidCrystal Display (LCD) apparatus, a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), and anOrganic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display apparatus, are being used.

The display apparatus provides an input method based on a touch thatenables a user to input information or an instruction easily, directlyand conveniently, getting away from the usual input methods, such aspushing a button, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. For the input method basedon the touch, a touch panel should be included in the display apparatus.

Because the display apparatus is becoming larger, an area of the touchpanel is becoming larger. As described above, because the displayapparatus is becoming larger, numbers of the driving electrodes andsensing electrodes which should be formed on the touch panel for a touchsensing increase.

When the number of sensing electrodes increases, a sensing timeincreases and an effective touch sensing is difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a touch sensing systemand a display apparatus decreasing a sensing time and enabling aneffective touch sensing, although a number of sensing electrodesincreases according to an increase of an area of a touch panel.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provideda touch sensing system including: a touch panel including drivingelectrodes and sensing electrodes defining sensor nodes; two or moretouch integrated circuits that sense sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes from connected sensing electrodes among thesensing electrodes by sequentially driving the driving electrodes, andtransmit sensing data including the sensed sensing information of eachof the corresponding sensor nodes; a bridge that aligns the sensing datatransmitted from each of the two or more touch integrated circuits basedon a sensor node position, and transmits the sensing data; and acontroller that detects a touch coordinate based on a whole or a portionof the sensing data transmitted from the bridge.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a display apparatus including: a touch panel including drivingelectrodes and sensing electrodes defining sensor nodes; and a printedcircuit board attached to one side of the touch panel, and including twoor more touch integrated circuits sensing the sensor nodes andtransmitting sensing data, a bridge aligning the sensing datatransmitted from each of the two or more touch integrated circuits andtransmitting the sensing data, and a controller detecting a touchcoordinate based on a whole or a portion of the sensing data transmittedfrom the bridge.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a touch sensing system including: a touch panel includingdriving electrodes and sensing electrodes defining sensor nodes; two ormore touch integrated circuits that sense sensing information of each ofthe corresponding sensor nodes from connected sensing electrodes amongthe sensing electrodes by sequentially driving the driving electrodes,transmit sensing data including the sensed sensing information of eachof the corresponding sensor nodes, and transmit touch generation ornon-generation information determined in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the connected sensing electrodes or a touch integratedcircuit tag corresponding to the touch generation or non-generationinformation; and a controller that detects a touch coordinate based ononly a portion of the sensing data among a whole of the sensing datatransmitted from each of the two or more touch integrated circuits andbased on the touch generation or non-generation information or the touchintegrated circuit tags respectively corresponding to the two or moretouch integrated circuits.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is aneffect of providing the touch sensing system and the display apparatuscapable which decrease a sensing time and enable an effective touchsensing, although a number of the sensing electrodes increases accordingto an increase of an area of a touch panel.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an effect ofproviding the touch sensing system and the display apparatus performingan effective sensing process through a reception (Rx) division sensingmethod partitively sensing sensing electrodes, when the number of thesensing electrodes increases according to the increase of the area ofthe touch panel.

With relation to the Rx division sensing method, the bridge, as anadditional configuration receiving divided and sensed sensing data fromthe two or more touch integrated circuits (ICs) in parallel, assigningand combining the received sensing data, among the two or more touch ICsand the controller performing the touch algorithm is further disclosed.Therefore, delays of the sensing data transmission and the touchalgorithm performance, rather may be generated by the Rx divisionsensing method suggested for increasing the effectiveness of the touchsensing when the number of the sensing electrodes increases according tothe increase of the area of the touch panel, decrease. Thus, there is aneffect of enabling high speed sensing data transmission and touchalgorithm performance.

In addition, because of the bridge configuration suggested for the highspeed data transmission and touch algorithm, an input/output (I/O)collision may be generated according to memory uses of each of thecontroller and the bridge. In addition, because the number of thesensing electrodes increases due to the increase of the area of thetouch panel, a sensing data amount stored in the memory and read fromthe memory increases. Thus, according to the present invention, there isan effect of providing a structure of a shared memory and a method forcontrolling the shared memory that enables the bridge and the controllerto effectively read, write and so on, the sensing data with respect tomany sensor nodes without a memory I/O collision.

In addition, according to the present invention, a touch coordinate isdetected with respect to only a partial area where it is determined thata touch is generated, not a whole area on a touch panel. To this end,only a necessary sensing data is read partially, therefore there is aneffect of decreasing the amount of the sensing data which should be readby the controller and enabling the controller to process the touchalgorithm faster.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a touch sensing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views illustrating a touch panel in the touchsensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the touch sensing system according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are views illustrating a sensing data process of thetouch sensing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating sensing data of the touch sensing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a touch sensing process of the touchsensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a structure of a shared memory in thetouch sensing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are views illustrating a method for controlling apossessory right with respect to the shared memory of the touch sensingsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a touch sensing process according to acontrol of the possessory right with respect to the shared memory of thetouch sensing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a view illustrating a display apparatus according to anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a view schematically illustrating a touch sensing systemaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description,the same elements will be designated by the same reference numeralsalthough they are shown in different drawings. Further, in the followingdescription of the present invention, a detailed description of knownfunctions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when itmay make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In addition, terms, such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) or the likemay be used herein when describing components of the present invention.Each of these terminologies is not used to define an essence, order orsequence of a corresponding component but used merely to distinguish thecorresponding component from other component(s). In the case that it isdescribed that a certain structural element “is connected to”, “iscoupled to”, or “is in contact with” another structural element, itshould be interpreted that another structural element may “be connectedto”, “be coupled to”, or “be in contact with” the structural elements aswell as that the certain structural element is directly connected to oris in direct contact with another structural element.

FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a touch sensing system 100according to an exemplary embodiment. All the components of the touchsensing system, according to all the embodiments of the presentinvention, are operatively coupled and configured.

Referring to FIG. 1, the touch sensing system 100 according to anexemplary embodiment includes a touch panel 110 including N number ofdriving electrodes Tx1 to TxN and M number of sensing electrodes Rx1 toRxM, two or more touch Integrated Circuits (ICs) 120 for a reception(Rx) division sensing, a bridge 130 aligning and combining sensing datagenerated from each of the two or more touch ICs 120 through a sensing asensor node, a controller 140 detecting a touch coordinate based on thewhole or a portion of the sensing data aligned and combined in thebridge 130, etc.

In the touch panel 110, the N number of driving electrodes Tx1 to TxNand the M number of sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM are formed, and thus(N*M) number of sensor nodes SN(1,1) to SN(1,M), SN(2,1) to SN(2,M), . .. , SN(N,M) are defined. Here, the SN(i,j) is a sensor node defined byan ith driving electrode Txi and a jth sensing electrode Rxj (here,1≦i≦N, 1≦j≦M, N is a number of the driving electrode, and M is a numberof the sensing electrode).

The two or more touch ICs 120 performs the Rx division sensing, and thusthe two or more touch ICs 120 divide the whole sensor node by a certainnumber to sense the whole sensor node.

Thus, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 senses sensing information(e.g., a capacitance) of each of the sensor nodes from connected sensingelectrodes among the M number of sensing electrodes (Rx1 to RxM) bysequentially driving the N number of driving electrodes (Tx1 to TxN).

In addition, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 may transmit sensingdata including the sensing information sensed in each of the sensornodes managed by the touch IC 120.

Each of the two or more touch ICs 120 may determine a touch generationor non-generation in an area formed by the sensor nodes defined bysensing electrodes connected to each of the two or more touch ICs 120among the whole area of the touch panel 110, based on a charge amountchange (ΔQ) or a voltage change (ΔV) informing the charge amount change(ΔQ) in each of the sensor nodes defined by the sensing electrodesconnected to each of the two or more touch ICs 120. Here, when thecharge amount change (ΔQ) or the voltage change (ΔV) informing thecharge amount change (ΔQ) in each of the sensor nodes is larger than acharge amount change critical value (ΔQ_th) or a voltage change criticalvalue (ΔV_th), each of the two or more touch ICs 120 may determine thata touch is generated.

Each of two or more touch ICs 120 may transmit touch generation ornon-generation information in the area formed by the sensor nodesmanaged by the touch IC 120 along with the sensing data including thesensing information of each of the sensor nodes managed by the touch IC120.

Next, the bridge 130 aligns and combines the sensing data transmittedfrom each of the two or more touch ICs 120, based on a sensor nodeposition. Here, each of the N number of driving electrodes Tx1 to TxNand each of the M number of sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM correspond,and thus each of the sensor nodes is defined.

In addition, the bridge 130 may collect the touch generation ornon-generation information transmitted from each of the two or moretouch ICs 120 and provide a touch IC tag instructing a touch generationor instructing a touch non-generation to each of the two or more touchICs 120, so that the controller 140 may check a position where the touchis generated on the touch panel 110. The whole or the portion of thesensing data generated by aligning and combining the sensing data fromeach of the two or more touch ICs 120, and the touch IC tag provided bycollecting the touch generation or non-generation information of each ofthe two or more touch ICs 120, may be transferred from the bridge 130 tothe controller 140 in a directly transmitted type (i.e., a directdelivery type). Alternatively, the whole or the portion of the sensingdata and the touch IC tag transmitted from the bridge 130 may be storedin a shared memory 150 and may be transferred to the controller 140 in atype (store and read type) wherein the controller 140 reads the whole orthe portion of the sensing data and the touch IC tag from the sharedmemory 150.

The controller 140 performs a touch algorithm based on the whole or theportion of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130 to detectthe touch coordinate.

That is, the controller 140 may directly receive the whole or theportion of the sensing data transferred from the bridge 130 to detectthe touch coordinate based on the whole or the portion of the sensingdata. Alternatively, the controller 140 may read the whole or theportion of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130 and storedin the shared memory 150 to detect the touch coordinate based on thewhole or the portion of the sensing data.

Here, performing the touch algorithm by the controller 140 by using thewhole of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130 meansdetecting the touch coordinate based on the whole area of the touchpanel 110, and performing the touch algorithm by the controller 140 byusing the portion of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130means detecting the touch coordinate based on the portion of the areawhere it is determined that the touch is generated among the whole ofthe area of the touch panel 110.

In this respect, when the controller 140 performs the touch algorithm byusing the portion of the whole of the sensing data transmitted from thebridge 130, data amount read from the shared memory 150 for the touchalgorithm performance decreases in correspondence to a differencebetween the whole and the portion of the sensing data, and touchalgorithm performance time may be decrease in correspondence to thedecrease of the data amount for the touch algorithm performance.

Meanwhile, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 may transmit thesensing data generated based on the sensed sensing information to thebridge 130 in a serial communication method.

At this time, the sensing data transmission from each of the two or moretouch ICs 120 is performed unrelated to a sensing data transmission timepoint of another touch IC.

Thus, the bridge 130 may simultaneously receive the sensing datatransmitted from each of two or more touch ICs 120, in parallel.

That is, although each of the two or more touch ICs 120 transmits thecorresponding sensing data to the bridge 130 in the serial communicationmethod, because each of the two or more touch ICs 120 transmits thecorresponding sensing data to the bridge 130 unrelated to the sensingdata transmission time point of another touch IC 120, the two or moretouch ICs 120 simultaneously transmit the sensing data in parallel, andthe bridge 130 simultaneously receives the sensing data transmitted fromeach of the two or more touch ICs 120, in parallel.

In addition, the bridge 130 simultaneously receives the sensing datatransmitted from each of the two or more touch ICs 120, in parallel, andaligns and combines the sensing data. In addition, the bridge 130transmits the aligned and combined sensing data to the controller 140 orstores the aligned and combined sensing data to the shared memory 150according to a parallel communication method so that the controller 140may use the sensing data in the touch algorithm.

At this time, when the bridge 130 transmits or stores the sensing datatransmitted from the two or more touch ICs 120 and aligned in the bridge130 to the controller 140 or the shared memory 150, the bridge 130 maytransmit or store the touch IC tag to the controller 140 or the sharedmemory 150.

Thus, in case of the transfer type (the store and read type) accordingto data storing and reading method between the bridge 130 and thecontroller 140, the controller 140 reads the whole or the portion of thesensing data transmitted from the bridge 130 and stored in the sharedmemory 150, detects the touch coordinate based on the read sensing data.When the controller 140 reads the portion among the whole of the sensingdata transmitted from the bridge 130 and stored in the shared memory150, the controller 140 reads only the portion of the sensing data,transmitted from the touch IC 120, connected to the sensing electrodesin the partial area corresponding to the point where the touch isgenerated among the whole area of the touch panel 110, to the bridge 130and stored in the shared memory 150, among the whole of the sensing datastored in the shared memory 150, based on the touch IC tag stored in theshared memory 150 in correspondence to each of the two or more touch ICs120, and performs the touch algorithm to detect the touch coordinate(refer to FIG. 4A).

In case of this method, when the point where the touch is generated ison a boundary between the two areas or is near to an adjacent area in adistance equal to or shorter than a certain distance, a touch coordinatedetection error may be generated.

Thus, in order to increase an accuracy of the touch detection, when thepoint where the touch is generated is on the boundary between the twoareas or is near to the adjacent area in the distance equal to orshorter than the certain distance, the controller 140 may read theportion of the sensing data, transmitted from the two touch ICs 120,connected to the sensing electrodes in each of two areas of both sidesof the point where the touch is generated among the whole area of thetouch panel 110 or the adjacent area adjacent to the point where thetouch is generated among the whole area of the touch panel 110, to thebridge 130 and stored in the shared memory 150, among the whole of thesensing data stored in the shared memory 150, based on the touch IC tagstored in the shared memory 150 in correspondence to the two or moretouch ICs 120, respectively (refer to FIG. 4B).

Thus, the data amount read from the shared memory 150 by the controller140 may decrease, and a process speed of the touch algorithm of thecontroller 140 may be faster.

In addition, in case of the data direct transfer type (direct deliverytype) between the bridge 130 and the controller 140, the controller 140detects the touch coordinate based on the whole or the portion of thesensing data transmitted from the bridge 130. When the controller 140detects the touch coordinate based on only the portion of the sensingdata among the whole of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge130, the controller 140 performs the touch algorithm based on only thesensing data transmitted to the bridge 130 from the touch IC 120corresponding to the touch IC tag instructing the touch generation,among the whole of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130,based on the touch IC tag transmitted in correspondence to two or moretouch ICs 120.

Therefore, a sensing data amount used for the touch algorithmperformance by the controller 140 decreases, and thus a process speed ofthe touch algorithm of the controller 140 may be faster.

In the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodimentdescribed above, the sensing data is not directly transferred to thecontroller 140 from each of the two or more touch ICs 120, but rather,the bridge 130 relays the sensing data between the two or more touch ICs120 and the controller 140 by aligning and combining the sensing data.Thus, the sensing data from each of the two or more touch ICs 120 maynot be sequentially transmitted to the controller 140, and the two ormore touch ICs 120 may simultaneously transmit the sensing data to thecontroller 140 in parallel.

Therefore, the time point when the sensing data is transmitted from allof the two or more touch ICs 120 is considerably faster, and thecontroller 140 capable of performing the touch algorithm after all ofthe two or more touch ICs 120 transmit the sensing data may perform thetouch algorithm at a much faster time point. Such a merit may be furtherobvious in a case wherein a number of the touch ICs increases because asize of the touch panel 110 increases and so on.

In addition, when the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment is used, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 determineswhether the touch is generated or not on the areas of the touch panel110 managed by the respective touch ICs 120, and informs thedetermination result (i.e., the touch generation or non-generationdetermination information). Therefore, the controller 140 detects thetouch coordinate with respect to only the partial area rather than thewhole area of the touch panel 110, thus the sensing data amount whichshould be read may decrease and the process speed of the touch algorithmmay be faster.

The touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodimentdescribed above is described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to6.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views illustrating the touch panel 110 in the touchsensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

As described above, the N number of driving electrodes Tx1 to TxN andthe M number of sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM are formed in the touchpanel 110 of the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Here, driving pulses are sequentially provided to the N number ofdriving electrodes Tx1 to TxN by the two or more touch ICs 120. Inaddition, in the M number of sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM, the sensinginformation of each of the sensor nodes is sensed by the two or moretouch ICs 120.

The N number of driving electrodes Tx1 to TxN and the M number ofsensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM correspond each other, and thus the N*Mnumber of sensor nodes SN(i,j) (here, 1≦i≦N, 1≦j≦M, N is the number ofthe driving electrode, and M is a number of the sensing electrode) aredefined. A capacitance is formed in each of the sensor nodes by thedriving electrode and the sensing electrode. The capacitance formed ineach of the sensor nodes or the capacitance change is measured as thesensing information according to the touch point on the touch panel 110,and thus the touch coordinate and so on are detected.

Here, the N number of driving electrodes Tx1 to TxN and the M number ofsensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM may be formed on different layers, and maybe formed on the same layer. That is, the touch panel 110 may have adouble layer structure (i.e., two layers), or alternatively, the touchpanel 110 may have a single layer structure (i.e., one layer).

FIG. 2A is a view illustrating the touch panel 110 having the doublelayer structure (i.e., two layers), and FIG. 2B is a view illustratingthe touch panel 110 having the single layer structure (i.e., one layer).

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views illustrating the electrode structures, and theelectrode structure may be designed in various methods in addition tothe electrode structures shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

Hereinafter, an operation of the touch sensing system 100 isprefiguratively described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5, by exemplarilyshowing a case wherein six driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , and Tx6and twelve sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2, Rx3, . . . , and Rx12 (i.e., N=6and M=12) are formed in the touch panel 110, and a number of the touchICs 120 is 4.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the touch sensing system according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the six driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , andTx6 and the twelve sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2, Rx3, . . . , and Rx12are formed in the touch panel 110, and thus seventy two sensor nodesSN(i,j) (here, 1≦i≦6, 1≦j≦12) are defined by the correspondence of thesix driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , and Tx6 and the twelve sensingelectrodes Rx1, Rx2, Rx3, . . . , and Rx12. In FIG. 3, crossing pointsof the six driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , and Tx6 and the twelvesensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2, R>3, . . . , and Rx12 indicate the seventytwo sensor nodes.

Each of the four touch ICs 120 a, 120 b, 120 c and 120 d manages aseparated group of eighteen sensor nodes. That is, the four touch ICs120 a, 120 b, 120 c and 120 d manage the twelve sensing electrodes Rx1,Rx2, Rx3, . . . , Rx12, and each of the four touch ICs 120 a, 120 b, 120c and 120 d manages a separate group of three sensing electrodes.

That is, the touch IC A 120 a senses eighteen sensor nodes defined bythe correspondence of the six driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , Tx6and the three sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3. The touch IC B 120 bsenses eighteen sensor nodes defined by the correspondence of the sixdriving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , Tx6 and the three sensingelectrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6. The touch IC C 120 c senses eighteen sensornodes defined by the correspondence of the six driving electrodes Tx1,Tx2, . . . , Tx6 and the three sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9. Thetouch IC D 120 d senses eighteen sensor nodes defined by thecorrespondence of the six driving electrodes Tx1, Tx2, . . . , Tx6 andthe three sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12.

More specifically, the touch IC A 120 a senses sensing information withrespect to each of the three sensor nodes SN(1,1), SN(1,2) and SN(1,3),when the driving signal is provided to the driving electrode Tx1. Atthis time, the touch IC B 120 b senses sensing information with respectto each of the three sensor nodes SN(1,4), SN(1,5) and SN(1,6) in thethree sensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6, the touch IC C 120 c sensessensing information with respect to each of the three sensor nodesSN(1,7), SN(1,8) and SN(1,9) in the three sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8and Rx9, and the touch IC D 120 d senses sensing information withrespect to each of the three sensor nodes SN(1,10), SN(1,11) andSN(1,12) in the three sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12.

Next, the touch IC A 120 a senses sensing information with respect toeach of the three sensor nodes SN(2,1), SN(2,2) and SN(2,3), when thedriving signal is provided to the driving electrode Tx2. At this time,the touch IC B 120 b senses sensing information with respect to each ofthe three sensor nodes SN(2,4), SN(2,5) and SN(2,6) in the three sensingelectrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6, the touch IC C 120 c senses sensinginformation with respect to each of the three sensor nodes SN(2,7),SN(2,8) and SN(2,9) in the three sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9,and the touch IC D 120 d senses sensing information with respect to eachof the three sensor nodes SN(2,10), SN(2,11) and SN(2,12) in the threesensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12.

Thus, as the same manner, each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d senses all of the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes managed by each of thetouch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120d, and transmits the sensing data including the sensing information tothe bridge 130.

The bridge 130 receives the sensing data from each of the touch IC A 120a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d in parallel,and thus the bridge 130 receives the sensing information of each of theseventy two sensor nodes.

Next, the bridge 130 aligns and combines (i.e., compose) the sensingdata received from each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touchIC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, based on the position of the seventytwo sensor nodes.

The aligned and combined sensing data is used when the controller 140performs the touch algorithm. Thus, the bridge 130 transmits the alignedand combined sensing data.

At this time, the bridge 130 may directly transmit the aligned andcombined sensing data to the controller 140. Alternatively, the bridge130 may store the aligned and combined sensing data in a memory so thatthe controller 140 reads the aligned and combined sensing data from thememory.

As described above, each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b,touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d senses the information withrespect to the eighteen sensor nodes managed by each of the touch IC A120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, andtransmits the sensing data including the sensing information to thebridge 130. The bridge 130 aligns the sensing data received from each ofthe touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D120 d. The bridge 130 may transmit the aligned sensing data to thecontroller 140 or may transmit to store the aligned sensing data in thememory.

The sensing data transmitted from each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch ICB 120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d at this time, and thesensing data aligned in the bridge 130 are conceptually shown in FIGS.4A and 4B.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3, each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B120 b, touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d determines the touchgeneration or non-generation based on the charge amount change or thevoltage change in each of the sensor nodes defined by the connectedsensing electrodes among the sensing electrodes formed in the touchpanel 110. In addition, each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b,touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d may transmit the touch generationor non-generation information corresponding to the determination resultto the bridge 130 along with the sensing data including the sensinginformation of each of the corresponding sensor nodes.

For example, the touch IC A 120 a determines whether the touch isgenerated in an area A1 managed by the touch IC A 120 a, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3 connected to thetouch IC A 120 a among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. The touch IC A 120 a may transmit the touch generation ornon-generation information corresponding to the determination result tothe bridge 130 along with the sensing data including the sensinginformation of each of the corresponding sensor nodes.

The touch IC B 120 b determines whether the touch is generated in anarea A2 managed by the touch IC B 120 b, based on the charge amountchange or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodes defined by thesensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6 connected to the touch IC B 120 bamong the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel 110. The touch ICB 120 b may transmit the touch generation or non-generation informationcorresponding to the determination result to the bridge 130 along withthe sensing data including the sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes.

The touch IC C 120 c determines whether the touch is generated in anarea A3 managed by the touch IC C 120 c, based on the charge amountchange or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodes defined by thesensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9 connected to the touch IC C 120 camong the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel 110. The touch ICC 120 c may transmit the touch generation or non-generation informationcorresponding to the determination result to the bridge 130 along withthe sensing data including the sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes.

The touch IC D 120 d determines whether the touch is generated in anarea A4 managed by the touch IC D 120 d, based on the charge amountchange or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodes defined by thesensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12 connected to the touch IC D 120 damong the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel 110. The touch ICD 120 d may transmit the touch generation or non-generation informationcorresponding to the determination result to the bridge 130 along withthe sensing data including the sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the touch is generated in a point P1 of thearea A2 managed by the touch IC B 120 b, the touch generation ornon-generation information transmitted from the touch IC A 120 a, thetouch IC C 120 c and the touch IC D 120 d may be the touch generation ornon-generation information (e.g., 0) instructing the touchnon-generation. In contrast, the touch generation or non-generationinformation transmitted from the touch IC B 120 b may be the touchgeneration or non-generation information (e.g., 1) instructing the touchgeneration.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3, when the touch is generated in a pointP2 which is a boundary between two area A2 and A3 managed by the touchIC B 120 b and the touch IC C 120 c, the touch generation ornon-generation information transmitted from the touch IC A 120 a and thetouch IC D 120 d may be the touch generation or non-generationinformation (e.g., 0) instructing the touch non-generation. In contrast,the touch generation or non-generation information transmitted from thetouch IC B 120 b and the touch IC C 120 c may be the touch generation ornon-generation information (e.g., 1) instructing the touch generation.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are views illustrating a sensing data process of thetouch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 4Ais a view illustrating the sensing data process with respect to a case(touch generation point=P1) wherein the touch is generated in the pointP1 of the area A2 and the point P1 is far away from another area. FIG.4B is a view illustrating the sensing data process with respect to acase (touch generation point=P2) wherein the touch is generated in thepoint P2 which is the boundary between the two areas A2 and A3.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the touch IC A 120 a senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=1, 2 and 3) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3, and transmitssensing data A 410 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC A 120 a determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A1 managed by the touch IC A 120 a, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3 connected to thetouch IC A 120 a among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC A 120 a maytransmit touch generation or non-generation information 4100 (may beexpressed as 0) instructing the touch non-generation to the bridge 130along with the sensing data 410 including the sensing information ofeach of the corresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the touch IC B 120 b senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=4, 5 and 6) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6, and transmitssensing data B 420 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC B 120 b determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A2 managed by the touch IC B 120 b, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6 connected to thetouch IC B 120 b among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC B 120 b maytransmit touch generation or non-generation information 4200 (may beexpressed as 1) instructing the touch generation to the bridge 130 alongwith the sensing data 420 including the sensing information of each ofthe corresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the touch IC C 120 c senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=7, 8 and 9) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9, and transmitssensing data C 430 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC C 120 c determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A3 managed by the touch IC C 120 c, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9 connected to thetouch IC C 120 c among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC C 120 c maytransmit touch generation or non-generation information 4300 (may beexpressed as 0) instructing the touch non-generation to the bridge 130along with the sensing data 430 including the sensing information ofeach of the corresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the touch IC D 120 d senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=10, 11 and 12) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 andthe three connected sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12, andtransmits sensing data D 440 including the sensing information to thebridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC D 120 d determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A4 managed by the touch IC D 120 d, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12 connected to thetouch IC D 120 d among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC D 120 d maytransmit touch generation or non-generation information 4400 (may beexpressed as 0) instructing the touch non-generation to the bridge 130along with the sensing data 440 including the sensing information ofeach of the corresponding sensor nodes.

As described above, when the sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440 and thetouch generation or non-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400are transmitted from each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b,touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, the bridge 130 aligns thereceived sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440 based on the sensor nodeposition and stores the aligned sensing data 400 to the shared memory150. At this time, the bridge 130 may directly transmit the alignedsensing data 400 to the controller 140.

In addition, the bridge 130 may provide the touch IC tag 4000instructing the touch generation or instructing the touch non-generationwith respect to each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch ICC 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, by collecting the touch generation ornon-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400 transmitted fromeach of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c andtouch IC D 120 d.

The above-mentioned touch IC tag 4000 may be data having a type in whichthe touch generation or non-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and4400 are collected, or may be the touch generation or non-generationinformation 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400, as information enabling thecontroller 140 to check the position where the touch is generated on thetouch panel 110.

Meanwhile, the controller 140 reads only the sensing data 420 generatedfrom the touch IC B 120 b managing the area (the area A2 in FIG. 3)where the touch is generated among the whole of the sensing data 400transmitted from the bridge 130 and stored in the shared memory 150, bychecking the touch IC tag 4000. The controller 140 may detect the touchcoordinate based on the read sensing data 420. Here, reading the portion420 of the sensing data 400 stored in the shared memory 150, by thecontroller 140 is referred to as the partial reading. Referring to FIG.4A, one small block, in the sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440transmitted from each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touchIC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d and the sensing data 400 aligned in thebridge 130, indicates sensing information with respect to one sensornode.

Hereinafter, the sensing data process with respect to the case (toughgeneration point=P2) wherein the touch is generated in the point P2which is the boundary between the two areas A2 and A3 is described withreference to FIG. 4B.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the touch IC A 120 a senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=1, 2 and 3) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3, and transmits thesensing data A 410 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC A 120 a determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A1 managed by the touch IC A 120 a, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx1, Rx2 and Rx3 connected to thetouch IC A 120 a among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC A 120 a maytransmit the touch generation or non-generation information 4100 (may beexpressed as 0) instructing the touch non-generation to the bridge 130along with the sensing data 410 including the sensing information ofeach of the corresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the touch IC B 120 b senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=4, 5 and 6) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6, and transmits thesensing data B 420 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC B 120 b determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A2 managed by the touch IC B 120 b, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx4, Rx5 and Rx6 connected to thetouch IC B 120 b among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, because the point P2 which isthe boundary between the two areas A2 and A3 is the point where thetouch is generated, it is determined whether the touch is also generatedin the area A2, and thus the touch IC B 120 b may transmit the touchgeneration or non-generation information 4200 (may be expressed as 1)instructing the touch generation to the bridge 130 along with thesensing data 420 including the sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the touch IC C 120 c senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=7, 8 and 9) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 and thethree connected sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9, and transmitssensing data C 430 including the sensing information to the bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC C 120 c determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A3 managed by the touch IC C 120 c, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx7, Rx8 and Rx9 connected to thetouch IC C 120 c among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, because the point P2 which isthe boundary between the two areas A2 and A3 is the point where thetouch is generated, it is determined that the touch is also generated inthe area A3, and thus the touch IC C 120 c may transmit the touchgeneration or non-generation information 4300 (may be expressed as 1)instructing the touch generation to the bridge 130 along with thesensing data 430 including the sensing information of each of thecorresponding sensor nodes.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the touch IC D 120 d senses the sensinginformation of each of the eighteen sensor nodes SN(i,j) (i=1 to 6, andj=10, 11 and 12) defined by the six driving electrodes Tx1 to Tx6 andthe three connected sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12, andtransmits the sensing data D 440 including the sensing information tothe bridge 130.

In addition, the touch IC D 120 d determines whether the touch isgenerated in the area A4 managed by the touch IC D 120 d, based on thecharge amount change or the voltage change in each of the sensor nodesdefined by the sensing electrodes Rx10, Rx11 and Rx12 connected to thetouch IC D 120 d among the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel110. As the result of the determination, the touch IC D 120 d maytransmit the touch generation or non-generation information 4400 (may beexpressed as 0) instructing the touch non-generation to the bridge 130along with the sensing data 440 including the sensing information ofeach of the corresponding sensor nodes.

As described above, when the sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440 and thetouch generation or non-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400are transmitted from each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b,touch IC C 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, the bridge 130 aligns thereceived sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440 based on the sensor nodeposition and stores the aligned sensing data 400 in the shared memory150. At this time, the bridge 130 may directly transmit the alignedsensing data 400 to the controller 140.

In addition, the bridge 130 may provide the touch IC tag 4000instructing the touch generation or instructing the touch non-generationwith respect to each of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch ICC 120 c and touch IC D 120 d, by collecting the touch generation ornon-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400 transmitted fromeach of the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 c andtouch IC D 120 d.

The above-mentioned touch IC tag 4000 may be data having a type in whichthe touch generation or non-generation information 4100, 4200, 4300 and4400 are collected, or may be the touch generation or non-generationinformation 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400, as the information enabling thecontroller 140 to check the position where the touch is generated on thetouch panel 110.

Meanwhile, the controller 140 reads only the sensing data 420 and 430generated from the touch IC B 120 b and the touch IC C 120 c managingthe area (the area A2 and A3 in FIG. 3) where the touch is generatedamong the whole of the sensing data 400 transmitted from the bridge 130and stored in the shared memory 150, by checking the touch IC tag 4000.The controller 140 may detect the touch coordinate based on the readsensing data 420 and 430.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating the sensing data 400 aligned in the bridge130 of the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5, because the bridge 130 receives the sensing data410 including the sensing information with respect to the eighteensensor nodes from the touch IC A 120 a, the sensing data 420 includingthe sensing information with respect to the eighteen sensor nodes fromthe touch IC B 120 b, the sensing data 430 including the sensinginformation with respect to the eighteen sensor nodes from the touch ICC 120 c and the sensing data 440 including the sensing information withrespect to the eighteen sensor nodes from the touch IC D 120 d in theparallel communication method, in order to apply the touch algorithm,aligning the received sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440 incorrespondence to the sensor node position is necessary.

Thus, the bridge 130 aligns the sensing data 410, 420, 430 and 440received from the touch IC A 120 a, touch IC B 120 b, touch IC C 120 cand touch IC D 120 d, based on the positions of the seventy two sensornodes SN(i,j) (1≦i≦6, 1≦j≦12).

According to such an alignment, as shown in FIG. 5, the position of thesensor nodes in the touch panel 110 and a position of the sensinginformation in the sensing data are the same.

In the sensing data 400 aligned by the bridge 130 illustrated in FIG. 5,one small block means the sensing data with respect to one sensor node.For example, a small block of a second row and a seventh column issensing information with respect to a sensor node SN(2,7) defined by acorrespondence of a driving electrode Tx2 and a sensing electrode Rx7.

As described above, there is provided a structure in which the bridge130 is disposed among the two or more touch ICs 120 sensing the sensornodes in the touch panel 110 and the controller 140 performing the touchalgorithm for detecting the touch coordinate and so on. Under such astructure, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 simultaneouslytransmits the sensing data including the sensing information to thebridge 130 in parallel. That is, each of the two or more touch ICs 120transmits the sensing data including the sensing information withrespect to the corresponding sensor node, without a consideration of thesensing data transmission timing from another touch IC. The bridge 130aligns misaligned sensing data of each of the sensor nodes. Thus, eachof the two or more touch ICs 120 performs the next sensing operation,without needing to wait for transmission of the sensing data from all ofthe touch ICs 120.

As described above, because the controller 140 may read the sensing dataincluding the sensing information with respect to all of the sensingnodes faster, a faster touch algorithm performance is possible.

The touch sensing process of the touch sensing system 100 according toan exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating the touch sensing process of the touchsensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

When there is no bridge 130, the sensing data should be sequentiallytransmitted from the two or more touch ICs 120 to the controller 140. Inthis case, a considerable time delay may be generated in transmittingall of the sensing data from the two or more touch ICs 120 to thecontroller 140. Therefore, a time for processing a touch sensingincreases.

However, according to an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, eachof the two or more touch ICs 120 transmits the sensing information tothe bridge 130 without consideration of the sensing data transmissiontiming of another touch IC 120, after each of the two or more touch ICs120 senses the sensing information with respect to the sensor nodes ofeach of the two or more touch ICs 120. That is, the bridge 130simultaneously receives the sensing data from each of the two or moretouch ICs 120 in parallel.

Thus, the bridge 130 may receive all of the sensing data in a shortertime in comparison with a case wherein the bridge 130 sequentiallyreceives the sensing data from each of the two or more touch ICs 120.

The bridge 130 again aligns the sensing data received in parallel basedon the position of the sensor node and transmits the sensing data. Thus,the bridge 130 enables the controller 140 to perform the touch algorithmin a shorter time.

In addition, referring to FIG. 6, each of the two or more ICs 120performs a sensing operation for an (N+1)th touch sensing processunrelated to a data transmission (i.e., a bridge parallel transmission)for an Nth touch sensing process.

Meanwhile, as described above, the sensing data aligned in the bridge130 may be transferred to the controller 140 in the type in which thesensing data directly transferred to the controller 140. Alternatively,the sensing data may be stored in the shared memory to which all of thebridge 130 and the controller 140 access and transferred to thecontroller 140 in the read type.

A method for transferring the sensing data using the shared memory isdescribed in more detail with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a structure of the shared memory in thetouch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, the touch sensing system 100 according to anexemplary embodiment may further include the shared memory 150 storingthe sensing data 400 transmitted from the bridge 130 and read by thecontroller 140.

The bridge 130 in the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment may be implemented with a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) or may be implemented with a chip made with an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) type. Here, the FPGA may be an ICcapable of changing a circuit several times and programming the changedcircuit again.

The controller 140 in the touch sensing system 100 according to anexemplary embodiment may be a Central Process Unit (CPU) performing thetouch algorithm.

As described above, since the bridge 130 and the controller 140 areimplemented with separate ICs or chips, each of the bridge 130 and thecontroller 140 should operate separate memories. In this case, in orderto use the sensing data aligned in the bridge 130 in the touch algorithmby the controller 140, procedures of reading, writing and copying thesensing data are frequently generated, in addition to a problem ofincluding the separate memories.

More specifically, the bridge 130 stores the sensing data in a memory 1(only the bridge 130 may access to the memory 1), when a sensing data isrequested from the controller 140 and the sensing data is read from thememory 1 and is transmitted to the controller 140, the controller 140stores (i.e., copies) the sensing data received from the bridge 130 in amemory (only the controller 140 may access the memory), and thecontroller 140 should read the sensing data when the controller 140performs the touch algorithm. Thus, in order to use the sensing dataaligned in the bridge 130 in the touch algorithm by the controller 140,the procedures of reading, writing and copying the sensing data arefrequently generated, therefore a considerable delay with respect to thetouch sensing process is generated.

Thus, the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodimentfurther includes the shared memory 150 to which all of the bridge 130and the controller 140 may access, therefore the procedures of reading,writing and copying the sensing data may be removed or decreased, andthus the faster touch process is possible.

In addition, in the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment, each of the two or more touch ICs 120 determines whether thetouch is generated in the areas on the touch panel 110 managed by eachof the two or more touch ICs 120 in advance, and informs the result(i.e., touch generation or non-generation determination information).Therefore, the controller 140 may detect the touch coordinate, by usingonly the sensing data 420 with respect to the partial area, rather thanthe sensing data with respect to all of the areas on the touch panel110, based on the touch generation or non-generation determinationinformation 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400 or the touch IC tag 4000corresponding to the touch generation or non-generation determinationinformation 4100, 4200, 4300 and 4400. Thus, the sensing data amountwhich should be read decreases, and there is an effect of increasing aprocess speed of the touch algorithm by the decrease in the read sensingdata amount.

As described above, the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are twomasters use the shared memory 150 which is one slave, therefore aparallel input/output collision may be generated.

Thus, in the touch sensing system 100, the bridge 130 and the controller140 which are the two masters exchange a possessory right (i.e., anauthority) signal accessing to the shared memory 150 to use the sharedmemory 150 which is the one slave. Therefore, the touch sensing system100 may control not to generate the parallel input/output collision.

That is, in the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment, the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are the twomasters may exchange the possessory right signal for controlling apossessory right with respect to the shared memory 150.

Here, the possessory right signal is a signal informing which of thebridge 130 and the controller 140 which are the two masters has thepossessory right with respect to the shared memory 150, and thepossessory right signal is a kind of an interrupt signal.

Meanwhile, the touch sensing system 100 may include a switching elementswitching a connection to the shared memory 150 from the bridge 130 andthe controller 140 so that only one of the bridge 130 and the controller140 accesses to the shared memory 150 at one time point according to thepossessory right signal. The switching element may be included in eachof the bridge 130 and the controller 140. Alternatively the switchingelement may be disposed outside the bridge 130 and the controller 140.

With relation to a method for controlling the possessory right, abidirectional possessory right signal transmission method, in which eachone of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are the two masterstransmits only own possessory right signal to another of the bridge 130and the controller 140, may be used. Alternatively, a unidirectionalpossessory right signal transmission method, in which only one (e.g.,the bridge 130) of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are thetwo masters transmits the possessory right signal to another (e.g., thecontroller 140) of the bridge 130 and the controller 140, may be used.

Hereinafter, the two kinds of methods for controlling the possessoryright are described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating the method for controlling the possessoryright with respect to the shared memory 150 of the touch sensing system100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view illustrating the case wherein the method forcontrolling the possessory right with respect to the shared memory 150is the bidirectional possessory right signal transmission method inwhich each of one of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are thetwo masters transmits the only own possessory right signal to another ofthe bridge 130 and the controller 140.

In the case of the bidirectional possessory right signal transmissionmethod, each of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are the twomasters uses the own possessory right signal.

In the case of the bidirectional possessory right signal transmissionmethod, one of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 transmits the ownpossessory right signal to another of the bridge 130 and the controller140, and then accesses to the shared memory 150.

For the bidirectional transmission of the possessory right signal, asignal line through which a possessory right signal HOLD1 of the bridge130 is transferred to the controller 140, and a signal line throughwhich a possessory right signal HOLD2 of the controller 140 istransferred to the bridge 130 may be formed, between the bridge 130 andthe controller 140.

In addition, the bridge 130 includes a switching element 810 switchingto the shared memory 150 according to whether the bridge 130 possessesthe shared memory 150, a processing unit 820 performing a reception, analignment, a transmission (i.e., a writing) and so on of the sensingdata, etc.

The controller 140 includes a switching element 830 switching to theshared memory 150 according to whether the controller 140 possesses theshared memory 150, a processing unit 840 performing a reading (i.e., areception), the touch algorithm and so on of the sensing data, etc.

The bridge 130 transmits the own possessory right signal HOLD 1 to thecontroller 140, when there is the sensing data to be written to theshared memory 150.

Thus, the switching element 810 included in the bridge 130 or theoutside of the bridge 130 turns on so that the processing unit 820 ofthe bridge 130 is connected to the shared memory 150. In addition, theswitching element 830 included in the controller 140 or the outside ofthe controller 140 turns off so that the processing unit 840 of thecontroller 140 is not connected to the shared memory 150.

Thus, only the bridge 130 accesses to the shared memory 150 and uses theshared memory 150. The bridge 130 stores (i.e., writes) the sensing datato the shared memory 150.

On the contrary, the controller 140 transmits the own possessory rightsignal HOLD2 to the bridge 130, when there is the sensing data (i.e.,the whole of the sensing data 400 or the portion of the sensing data 420stored in the shared memory 150) to be read from the shared memory 150.

Thus, the switching element 830 included in the controller 140 or theoutside of the controller 140 turns on so that the processing unit 840of the controller 140 is connected to the shared memory 150. Inaddition, the switching element 810 included in the bridge 130 or theoutside of the bridge 130 turns off so that the processing unit 820 ofthe bridge 130 is not connected to the shared memory 150.

Thus, only the controller 140 accesses to the shared memory 150 and usesthe shared memory 150. The controller 140 reads the sensing data (i.e.,the whole of the sensing data 400 or the portion of the sensing data 420stored in the shared memory 150) stored in the shared memory 150.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating another example of the method forcontrolling the possessory right with respect to the shared memory 150of the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating the case wherein the method forcontrolling the possessory right with respect to the shared memory 150is the unidirectional possessory right signal transmission method inwhich only one of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are thetwo masters transmits the possessory right signal to another of thebridge 130 and the controller 140.

In case of the unidirectional possessory right signal transmissionmethod, only one of the bridge 130 and the controller 140 which are thetwo masters transmits the possessory right signal. For example, thebridge 130 may transmit the possessory right signal, and the controller140 may only receive the possessory right signal.

In this case, that is, in the case of the unidirectional possessoryright signal transmission method, the bridge 130 among the bridge 130and the controller 140 transmits the possessory right signal to thecontroller 140, and then the bridge 130 accesses to the shared memory150. The controller 140 may accesses to the shared memory 150, when thebridge 130 does not transmit the possessory right signal.

For the unidirectional transmission of the possessory right signal, thesignal line through which the possessory right signal HOLD istransferred from the bridge 130 to the controller 140, between thebridge 130 and the controller 140.

The bridge 130 includes the switching element 810 switching to theshared memory 150 according to whether the bridge 130 possesses theshared memory 150, the processing unit 820 performing the reception, thealignment, the transmission (i.e., the writing) and so on of the sensingdata, etc.

The controller 140 includes the switching element 830 switching to theshared memory 150 according to whether the controller 140 possesses theshared memory 150, the processing unit 840 performing the reading (i.e.,the reception), the touch algorithm and so on of the sensing data, etc.

The bridge 130 transmits the possessory right signal HOLD to thecontroller 140, when there is the sensing data to be writed to theshared memory 150.

Thus, the switching element 810 included in the bridge 130 or theoutside of the bridge 130 turns on so that the processing unit 820 ofthe bridge 130 is connected to the shared memory 150. In addition, theswitching element 830 included in the controller 140 or the outside ofthe controller 140 turns off so that the processing unit 840 of thecontroller 140 is not connected to the shared memory 150.

Thus, only the bridge 130 accesses to the shared memory 150 and uses theshared memory 150. The bridge 130 accesses to the shared memory to store(i.e., write) the sensing data in the shared memory 150.

On the contrary, the controller 140 may access to the shared memory 150when the bridge 130 does not transmit the possessory right signal afterchecking whether the bridge 130 transmits the possessory right signal,when there is the sensing data (i.e., the whole of the sensing data 400or the portion of the sensing data 420 stored in the shared memory 150)to be read from the shared memory 150.

To this end, the switching element 830 included in the controller 140 orthe outside of the controller 140 turns on so that the processing unit840 of the controller 140 is connected to the shared memory 150. Inaddition, the switching element 810 included in the bridge 130 or theoutside of the bridge 130 turns off so that the processing unit 820 ofthe bridge 130 is not connected to the shared memory 150. That is, theswitching element 810 of the bridge 130 turns on only when the bridge130 transmits the possessory right signal.

Thus, only the controller 140 accesses to the shared memory 150 and usesthe shared memory 150. The controller 140 reads the sensing data (i.e.,the whole of the sensing data 400 or the portion of the sensing data 420stored in the shared memory 150) stored in the shared memory 150.

Meanwhile, the sensing data storing (writing) operation of the bridge130 is more important than the sensing data reading operation of thecontroller 140. In addition, a time of the sensing data storing(writing) operation of the bridge 130 is shorter than a time of thesensing data reading operation of the controller 140. Therefore, apriority of the possessory right with respect to the shared memory 150of the bridge 130 may be higher than a priority of the possessory rightwith respect to the shared memory 150 of the controller 140.

To this end, in the method for controlling the possessory right usingthe unidirectional possessory right signal transmission method, only thebridge 130 transmits the possessory right signal having the higherpriority of the possessory right with respect to the shared memory 150.

In addition, in the method for controlling the possessory right usingthe bidirectional possessory right signal transmission method, when thebridge 130 and the controller 140 simultaneously transmit the possessoryright signal, the bridge 130 may first possess the shared memory 150having the higher priority of the possessory right with respect to theshared memory 150. For example, the bridge 130 may directly control theswitching element 830 of the controller 140 so that the controller 140is not connected to the shared memory 150. Alternatively, the bridge 130may inform the reception of the possessory right signal of thecontroller 140 to the controller 140 at a point of time when the bridge130 transmits the own possessory right signal so that the controller 140is not connected to the shared memory 150 by the switching element 830.

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating the touch sensing process according tothe control of the possessory right with respect to the shared memory150 of the touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 10, a period when the possessory right signal is ahigh level is a period (i.e., a bridge possession period) when thebridge 130 possesses the shared memory 150. A period when the possessoryright signal is a low level is a period (i.e., a controller possessionperiod) when the controller 140 possesses the shared memory 150.

Referring to FIG. 10, the bridge 130 accesses to the shared memory 150and stores the sensing data during the bridge possession period (thisoperation is shown as ‘S’ in FIG. 10).

Referring to FIG. 10, the controller 140 accesses to the shared memory150, reads the stored sensing data and performs the touch algorithm inthe controller possession period.

At this time, for the next sensing process, the bridge 130 reads andaligns the sensing data transmitted from two or more touch ICs 120.

Meanwhile, the two or more touch ICs 120, the bridge 130 and thecontroller 140 included in the touch sensing system 100 according to anexemplary embodiment, may be formed on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)attached to the touch panel 110.

Here, the bridge 130 may be implemented with the Field Programmable GateArray (FPGA) or may be implemented with a chip made with the ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) type. Here, the FPGA may be the ICcapable of changing the circuit several times and programming thechanged circuit again.

The bridge 130 may include digital logic units of which a number isidentical to a number of the touch ICs 120. Each of the digital logicunits may receive the sensing data by a serial communication (e.g., anI2C, an SPI and so on) with the one touch IC 120.

In addition, the controller 140 may be implemented with a CentralProcess Unit (CPU) and so on performing the touch algorithm, may be aCPU having a type of a DSP, an ARM, a MIPS Core and so on, but is notlimited thereto, and the controller 140 may be implemented with anyother type.

In addition, the two or more touch ICs 120 may be implemented in anon-chip type. Alternatively, the two or more touch ICs 120 may beimplemented in a type in which the two or more touch ICs 120 are dividedinto a driving unit driving the driving electrodes, a receiving unitreceiving the information from the sensing electrodes and a main CPU ICsensing the sensing information (e.g., the capacitance change and so on)of each of the sensor nodes based on the information received from thereceiving unit.

The touch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodimentdescribed above may be included in a display apparatus having a displaypanel, and such a display apparatus is schematically shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is a view illustrating a display apparatus 1100 according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 11, the display apparatus 1100 according to anexemplary embodiment, includes the touch panel 110, a PCB 1110 attachedto a side of the touch panel 110, etc. The two or more touch ICs 120sensing the sensor nodes and transmitting the sensing data, the bridge130 aligning and transmitting the sensing data transmitted from each ofthe two or more touch ICs 120 and the controller 140 detecting the touchcoordinate based on the sensing data transmitted from the bridge 130 areformed on the PCB 1110.

The PCB 1110 shown in FIG. 11 may be a Flexible Printed Circuit Board(FPCB).

Referring to FIG. 11, the display apparatus according to an exemplaryembodiment further includes a display panel 1120, for example, such as aLiquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel, an Organic Light Emitting Diode(OLED) panel and so on.

The touch panel 110 shown in FIG. 11 is also referred to as a TouchScreen Panel (TSP). For example, the touch panel 110 may be attached onthe display panel 1120 in an add-on type. Alternatively, the touch panel110 may be included in the display panel 1120 in an on-cell type or anin-cell type.

Meanwhile, in an exemplary embodiment described above, in order todecrease a sensing time and enable an effective touch sensing process,an additional configuration, referred to as the bridge 130, for aligningand combining the sensing data is disposed between the touch ICs 120 andthe controller 140. A high speed of a touch sensing process is possibleowing to a determining of the touch generation or non-generation inadvance and a following partial reading of the sensing data.

Hereinafter, a touch sensing system according to another exemplaryembodiment enabling the high speed of a touch sensing process owing tothe determining of the touch generation or non-generation in advance andthe following partial reading of the sensing data is schematicallydescribed with reference to FIG. 12.

The touch sensing system 1200 according to another exemplary embodimentshown in FIG. 12 may include a touch panel 1210 including the drivingelectrodes Tx1 to TxN and the sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM defining thesensor nodes, two or more touch ICs 1220 sensing the sensing informationof each of the corresponding sensor nodes from the connected sensingelectrodes among the sensing electrodes Rx1 to RxM by sequentiallydriving the driving electrodes Tx1 to TxN, transmitting the sensing dataincluding the sensed sensing information of each of the correspondingsensor nodes, and transmitting the touch generation or non-generationinformation determined in each of the sensor nodes defined by theconnected sensing electrodes or the touch IC tag corresponding to thetouch generation or non-generation information, a controller 1230detecting the touch coordinate based on only the portion of the sensingdata among the whole of the sensing data transmitted from each of thetwo or more touch ICs 1220 and based on the touch generation ornon-generation information or the touch IC tags respectivelycorresponding to the two or more touch ICs 1220, etc.

In addition, referring to FIG. 12, the touch sensing system 1200according to another exemplary embodiment may further include a sharedmemory 1240. The shared memory 1240 stores the sensing data transmittedfrom the two or more touch ICs and the touch generation ornon-generation information or the touch IC tag corresponding to thetouch generation or non-generation information. The controller 1230reads only the portion of the sensing data among the whole of thesensing data transmitted from the two or more touch ICs 1220 and storedin the shared memory 1240.

The touch sensing system 1200 according to another exemplary embodimentschematically described with reference to FIG. 12 does not include thebridge 130 according to an exemplary embodiment. Therefore, merely thetwo or more touch ICs 1220 and/or the controller 1230 share thefunctions and roles (the alignment and combination of the sensing data)of the bridge 130, and functions, roles and so on of the touch panel1210, the two or more touch ICs 1220 and the controller 1230 included inthe touch sensing system 1200 according to another exemplary embodimentare identical to the functions, roles and so on of the touch panel 110,the two or more touch ICs 120 and the controller 140 included in thetouch sensing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment.

In addition, a display apparatus including the touch sensing system 1200according to another exemplary embodiment also merely does not includethe bridge configuration, and may be implemented identically to thedisplay apparatus 1100 according to an exemplary embodiment shown inFIG. 11.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is theeffect of providing the touch sensing system 100 or 1200 decreasing asensing time and enabling an effective touch sensing, although a numberof the sensing electrodes increases according to an increase of an areaof the touch panel 110 or 1210, and the display apparatus including thetouch sensing system 100 or 1200.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is the effect ofproviding the touch sensing system 100 or 1200 performing an effectivesensing process through the Rx division sensing method partitivelysensing the sensing electrodes, when the number of the sensingelectrodes increases according to the increase of the area of the touchpanel 110 or 1210, and the display apparatus including the touch sensingsystem 100 or 1200.

With related to the Rx division sensing method, the bridge 130, as theadditional configuration receiving the divided and sensed sensing datafrom the two or more touch ICs 120 in parallel, assigning and combiningthe received sensing data, among the two or more touch ICs 120 and thecontroller 140 performing the touch algorithm is further disclosed.Therefore, delays of the sensing data transmission and the touchalgorithm performance, rather may be generated by the Rx divisionsensing method suggested for increasing the effectiveness of the touchsensing when the number of the sensing electrodes increases according tothe increase of the area of the touch panel 110, decrease. Thus, thereis the effect of enabling high speed of sensing data transmission andtouch algorithm performance.

In addition, because of the bridge configuration suggested for the highspeed of the data transmission and the touch algorithm, an input/output(I/O) collision may be generated according to memory uses of each of thecontroller 140 and the bridge 130. In addition, because the number ofthe sensing electrodes increases due to the increase of the area of thetouch panel 110, the sensing data amount stored in the memory and readfrom the memory increases. Thus, according to the present invention,there is the effect of providing a structure of the shared memory andthe method for controlling the shared memory that enables the bridge 130and the controller 140 to effectively read, write and so on, the sensingdata with respect to many sensor nodes without a memory I/O collision.

In addition, according to the present invention, the touch coordinate isdetected with respect to the only partial area where it is determinedthat the touch is generated rather than the whole area on the touchpanel 110 or 1210. To this end, only a necessary sensing data is readpartially, therefore there is the effect of decreasing the amount of thesensing data which should be read by the controller 140 or 1230 andenabling the controller 140 or 1230 to process the touch algorithmfaster.

While the technical spirit of the present invention has been exemplarilydescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will beunderstood by a person skilled in the art that the present invention maybe varied and modified in various forms without departing from the scopeof the present invention. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed in thepresent invention are merely to not limit but describe the technicalspirit of the present invention. Further, the scope of the technicalspirit of the present invention is limited by the embodiments. The scopeof the present invention shall be construed on the basis of theaccompanying claims in such a manner that all of the technical ideasincluded within the scope equivalent to the claims belong to the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A touch sensing system comprising: a touch panelincluding driving electrodes and sensing electrodes defining sensornodes; two or more touch integrated circuits that sense sensinginformation of each of the corresponding sensor nodes from connectedsensing electrodes among the sensing electrodes by sequentially drivingthe driving electrodes, and transmit sensing data including the sensedsensing information of each of the corresponding sensor nodes; a bridgethat aligns the sensing data transmitted from each of the two or moretouch integrated circuits based on a sensor node position, and transmitsthe sensing data; and a controller that detects a touch coordinate basedon a whole or a portion of the sensing data transmitted from the bridge.2. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the bridgesimultaneously receives, the sensing data transmitted from each of thetwo or more touch integrated circuits, in parallel.
 3. The touch sensingsystem of claim 1, wherein each of the two or more touch integratedcircuits performs a sensing operation for an (N+1)^(th) touch sensingprocess unrelated to a data transmission for an N^(th) touch sensingprocess.
 4. The touch sensing system of claim 1, further comprising: ashared memory that stores the sensing data transmitted from the bridgeand read by the controller.
 5. The touch sensing system of claim 4,wherein the bridge and the controller exchange a possessory right signalfor controlling a possessory right with respect to the shared memory. 6.The touch sensing system of claim 5, wherein one of the bridge and thecontroller accesses to the shared memory after one of the bridge and thecontroller transmits the possessory right signal to another of thebridge and the controller.
 7. The touch sensing system of claim 5,wherein the bridge accesses to the shared memory after the bridgetransmits the possessory right signal to the controller, and thecontroller accesses to the shared memory when the bridge does nottransmit the possessory right signal.
 8. The touch sensing system ofclaim 5, further comprising: a switching element switching a connectionto the shared memory from the bridge and the controller so that only oneof the bridge and the controller accesses to the shared memory at onetime point according to the possessory right signal, wherein theswitching element is included in each of the bridge and the controller,or the switching element is disposed outside the bridge and thecontroller.
 9. The touch sensing system of claim 4, wherein a priorityof the possessory right signal, of the bridge, for the shared memory ishigher than a priority of the possessory right signal, of thecontroller, for the shared memory.
 10. The touch sensing system of claim4, wherein the controller reads the whole or the portion of the sensingdata transmitted from the bridge and stored in the shared memory, anddetects the touch coordinate based on the read sensing data, and whenthe controller reads only the portion of the whole of the sensing datatransmitted from the bridge and stored in the shared memory, thecontroller reads only the portion of the sensing data transmitted fromthe touch integrated circuit to the bridge and stored in the sharedmemory among the whole of the sensing data stored in the shared memory,based on a touch integrated circuit tag stored in the shared memory incorrespondence to the two or more touch integrated circuits,respectively, and the touch integrated circuit is connected to thesensing electrodes in a partial area corresponding to a point where thea touch is generated among a whole area of the touch panel.
 11. Thetouch sensing system of claim 10, wherein the controller, when the pointwhere the touch is generated among the whole area of the touch panel ison a boundary between two areas or is near to an adjacent area in adistance equal to or shorter than a certain distance, reads the portionof the sensing data transmitted from the two touch integrated circuitsto the bridge and stored in the shared memory among the whole of thesensing data stored in the shared memory, based on the touch integratedcircuit tag stored in the shared memory in correspondence to the two ormore touch integrated circuits, respectively, and the two touchintegrated circuits are connected to the sensing electrodes in each oftwo areas of both sides of the point where the touch is generated amongthe whole area of the touch panel or the adjacent area adjacent to thepoint where the touch is generated among the whole area of the touchpanel.
 12. The touch sensing system of claim 10, wherein each of the twoor more touch integrated circuits determines a touch generation ornon-generation based on a charge amount change or a voltage change ineach of the sensor nodes defined by the connected sensing electrodesamong the sensing electrodes formed in the touch panel, and transmitstouch generation or non-generation information corresponding to thedetermination result along with sensing data including sensinginformation of each of the corresponding sensor nodes, the bridgecollects the touch generation or non-generation information transmittedfrom each of the two or more touch integrated circuits, and provides atouch integrated circuit tag instructing a touch generation orinstructing a touch non-generation to each of the two or more touchintegrated circuits, and when the sensing data transmitted from the twoor more touch integrated circuits and aligned is stored in the sharedmemory, the touch integrated circuit tags respectively provided to thetwo or more touch integrated circuits are stored in the shared memoryalong with the sensing data.
 13. A display apparatus comprising: a touchpanel including driving electrodes and sensing electrodes definingsensor nodes; and a printed circuit board attached to one side of thetouch panel, and including two or more touch integrated circuits sensingthe sensor nodes and transmitting sensing data, a bridge aligning thesensing data transmitted from each of the two or more touch integratedcircuits and transmitting the sensing data, and a controller detecting atouch coordinate based on a whole or a portion of the sensing datatransmitted from the bridge.
 14. A touch sensing system comprising: atouch panel including driving electrodes and sensing electrodes definingsensor nodes; two or more touch integrated circuits that sense sensinginformation of each of the corresponding sensor nodes from connectedsensing electrodes among the sensing electrodes by sequentially drivingthe driving electrodes, transmit sensing data including the sensedsensing information of each of the corresponding sensor nodes, andtransmit touch generation or non-generation information determined ineach of the sensor nodes defined by the connected sensing electrodes ora touch integrated circuit tag corresponding to the touch generation ornon-generation information; and a controller that detects a touchcoordinate based on only a portion of the sensing data among a whole ofthe sensing data transmitted from each of the two or more touchintegrated circuits and based on the touch generation or non-generationinformation or the touch integrated circuit tags respectivelycorresponding to the two or more touch integrated circuits.